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The function of private health insurance is not to provide quality care to all. Right, it’s insurance!

No other country in the world has a health care payment system that is being proposed for the United States by the American far left, none.

The fact such a plan, covering any and all health care related services, including long-term care, with no cost-sharing by patients is unaffordable and uncontrollable may be the reason.

What causes such naive positions? A lack of understanding by our policy makers is one reason. Here is an example:

“There is a reason why the United States is the only major country on earth that allows privateinsurance companies to profit off of healthcare,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview. “The function of private health insurance is not to provide quality care to all, it is to make as much money as possible for the private insurance companies, working with the drug companies.” Source: NYT March 25, 2019

No, the function of insurance is not to provide quality care, or any other kind of care, it’s insurance. The function of insurance, any insurance, is to protect individuals from unforeseen, unpredictable financial losses. The amount of the potential risk always determines the insurance premiums. Buy a luxury car, your premiums are higher, buy a big house with a pool and your premiums are higher.

Buy health insurance that covers even routine, predictable care over which you control the spending and the premiums will be high and ever increasing. THAT’S TRUE FOR A GOVERNMENT RUN SYSTEM TOO, JUST SUBSTITUTE TAXES FOR PREMIUMS. There is no fundamental difference except government has far less incentive to manage costs.

Health insurance used to be insurance. That’s is no longer the case. We have forced it to change because we don’t want to spend one penny of our money on health care. Patients drove up the cost of health insurance, not the insurance companies. A government run system that appeals to and reinforces our “not my money” attitude cannot be any different.

The issue Bernie and others are focused on isn’t how much but who pays. Yes adding preventive services and lowering point of purchase cost sharing raises premium costs; but that’s not an issue if taxpayers pay – same process as proposed in health reform when enrolled in the public exchange. They are buying votes – once you are dependent on them and once it becomes part of the status quo, it will only get worse for taxpayers. Any wonder why Part B and Part B are only 25% funded by beneficiary-paid premiums, why income taxpayers generally shoulder the rest of the costs?